Oct 15, 2010
Here I am doing an entry at the Seattle Central Library with my Thailand luggage piled next to me. I checked out of my hotel around noon, leaving me with a few hours to kill before getting on a Community Transit Bus heading up north for a final get together with some friends.
There was one final act of closure today. At lunchtime, just before checkout, I walked over to the Seattle Center to have a meal at one of the many restaurants that circle the food court in the main pavilion. I deliberately chose a location where I’d once had a Friday dinner after work twenty-six years ago, soon after starting at Airborne Express. (I only did this a single time, which is why I remember it — Vietnamese cuisine. Now, appropriately enough, it’s a Thai eatery.) I had my first paycheck with me that November night and was initially baffled by the amount — it was barely enough to get by on for one month. Then it hit me: I’d be getting these every other week. An opportunity, if I was miserly enough, to stash away some serious dough.
And so I did. Coupled with some gutsy investing, in a little over two decades after that Vietnamese meal I was finished working for a living. I owe a lot to that young fellow who set a course that placed me in the position I am today. (Unfortunately, the food this time around was quite forgettable.)
Time now to gather the belongings that will sustain me for the winter and beyond, depart this glassed, quirky building with its spiral floors (which I’m actually going to miss), and catch that bus.
Next entry will be from the Land of Smiles!
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